What happens
Joe Bell, a young drifter, is on trial for his life in a Midwestern courtroom, accused of murdering a prison foreman after escaping a county work farm with Mabel Alden. Speaking in his own defense, Joe recounts his past, describing a wrongful prison term that left him bitter and distrustful of the courts. He tells how he and fellow tramps were jailed for riding freight trains, and how he was assigned to the work farm, where Mabel, the foreman's stepdaughter, won him a driving job. Their romance grows despite the foreman's warnings, leading to a violent confrontation. This episode of Lux Radio Theatre was broadcast on April 14, 1941, and stars John Garfield and Claire Trevor.
A hot, crowded courtroom in a Midwestern town, with flashbacks to a prison, a county work farm, and the road.
Characters: Joe Bell, Mabel Alden, Charlie Jarrett, Jimmy Glenn, Hank
Listen for: Joe's account of how he and Mabel came to be on the run, told from the witness stand.
Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.